AI at the Helm: Dassault Systèmes Charts the Future of Design

VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France – January 29, 2026 – Dassault Systèmes has announced its annual 3DEXPERIENCE World will take place in Houston from February 1-4, 2026, setting the stage for a deep dive into the future of creation. The event promises to gather thousands of users to explore how artificial intelligence and vast virtual environments, which the company calls '3D UNIV+RSES,' are fundamentally reshaping the landscape from initial design to final manufacturing. The high-profile speaker lineup, featuring NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, renowned inventor Pablos Holman, and STEAM advocate Jay "Engineezy" Vogler, signals a clear focus on the convergence of high-performance computing, disruptive innovation, and human creativity.

AI as the New Design Co-Pilot

The central theme of the upcoming conference is the pervasive role of artificial intelligence. Dassault Systèmes is moving beyond buzzwords to demonstrate a holistic AI strategy encompassing assistive, predictive, and generative capabilities integrated directly into its SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE platforms. This isn't just about automation; it's about creating an intelligent co-pilot for the company's 8 million users. "Artificial intelligence is defining the way people work - automating tasks but also allowing more time for creativity and innovation," stated Manish Kumar, CEO of SOLIDWORKS, in the official announcement.

This vision is being realized through tangible tools. Assistive AI, like the SOLIDWORKS Design Assistant and the new proprietary AI companion AURA, aims to streamline workflows by offering intelligent recommendations and instant access to technical knowledge. Predictive AI is being deployed to forecast equipment failures through virtual twins of operational assets and to optimize complex manufacturing toolpaths, reducing waste and downtime.

The most transformative element, however, may be generative AI. Capabilities within SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform now allow engineers to define performance constraints and have AI algorithms generate a multitude of optimized design solutions. These tools can create novel, lightweight, and high-performance geometries that a human designer might never conceive. For the user community, this technology is met with both excitement and practical considerations. While many engineers are enthusiastic about offloading repetitive tasks and exploring new creative avenues, there's also a clear demand for robust training and a need to build trust in AI-generated outcomes. The consensus is a desire for AI to act as a "co-pilot" that augments human expertise, rather than an "auto-pilot" that removes it.

Building the Industrial Metaverse: The '3D UNIV+RSES' Vision

A year after its introduction, Dassault Systèmes is doubling down on its concept of '3D UNIV+RSES'. This is not a consumer-focused metaverse for social avatars, but a purpose-built industrial ecosystem of interconnected virtual twins. The company's leadership envisions these virtual worlds as scientifically accurate, data-driven environments where entire products, factories, and even cities can be designed, simulated, and optimized before any physical resources are committed.

This vision, championed by Executive Chairman Bernard Charlès, is about "harmonizing product, nature, and life." It extends the concept of a digital twin—a virtual replica of a physical asset—to a "virtual twin experience" that encompasses the entire lifecycle and its context. For instance, an automotive company can use the platform not just to design a car, but to simulate its manufacturing process in a virtual factory, test its performance in a virtual city with simulated traffic, and analyze its environmental impact over its entire lifespan.

Practical applications are already taking hold across industries. Aerospace companies use the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for complex systems integration and certification, while manufacturing firms create virtual replicas of their production lines to optimize logistics and worker safety. This approach differentiates Dassault Systèmes from competitors by offering a single, unified platform where data flows seamlessly from ideation through to operation, creating a powerful feedback loop for continuous innovation and sustainability.

A Competitive Landscape Driven by Intelligence

Dassault Systèmes is not alone in its pursuit of an AI-driven future. The entire CAD and PLM software market is a hotbed of innovation, with key competitors like Autodesk, Siemens, and PTC making significant strides in similar areas. Autodesk's Fusion 360 is well-regarded for its generative design features, while Siemens is aggressively building out its Xcelerator portfolio and has its own high-profile partnership with NVIDIA to develop the industrial metaverse. PTC, meanwhile, is leveraging its ThingWorx IoT platform to integrate AI with real-world operational data.

In this competitive arena, Dassault Systèmes is banking on its unified platform strategy and its profound, science-based approach. While competitors offer powerful point solutions, the French software giant argues that its integrated 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides a more cohesive environment for innovation. By connecting all disciplines—from design and simulation to manufacturing and governance—on a single data model, it aims to break down the silos that can stifle progress.

The inclusion of NVIDIA's Jensen Huang as a keynote speaker is a strategic move that underscores this positioning. The partnership between the two companies is critical for powering the computationally intensive simulations and AI models at the heart of the '3D UNIV+RSES' vision. It signals that the future of industrial design will require immense computing power, and Dassault Systèmes is aligning itself with the company that builds the foundational hardware for this new era.

Augmenting Human Ingenuity, Not Replacing It

Beyond the bits and bytes, the narrative for 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026 is deeply human-centric. The event's agenda and speaker selection emphasize that technology's ultimate purpose is to augment human creativity and problem-solving. This is where keynote speakers like futurist Pablos Holman and educator Jay "Engineezy" Vogler come into play.

Holman, a hacker and inventor known for his unconventional approach to solving global challenges, represents the spirit of unbound innovation that AI tools can unlock. His perspective will likely challenge the audience to think beyond incremental improvements and use the platform for truly disruptive creation. On the other end of the spectrum, Vogler’s presence highlights a crucial commitment to the next generation. As a STEAM advocate who makes complex engineering concepts accessible, he embodies the effort to democratize these powerful tools and inspire future engineers.

This focus on human potential is further cemented by event highlights like the AAKRUTI International Student Design and Innovation Competition, which challenges student teams to tackle real-world problems. By putting its most advanced tools in the hands of young innovators, Dassault Systèmes is not only cultivating future users but also reinforcing the message that technology is a means to an end: empowering people to build a more sustainable world. The ultimate vision presented is one of symbiosis, where human ingenuity guides the immense power of AI within collaborative virtual worlds to achieve what was previously unimaginable.